Opening SAS Data Sets

SAS data sets are the building block of many reports and analyses in SAS. A SAS data set is the standard data storage format for data created with SAS. The great thing about SAS data sets is that they are fast to open and analyze relative to other data storage methods, such as text files, comma separated values (CSV) files, Excel spreadsheets, and even relational databases like Oracle or DB2. By default, the output data created by your activities in SAS Enterprise Guide are SAS data sets.

To open a data set and create a project from scratch, follow these steps:

1. Launch SAS Enterprise Guide from the Start menu.

2. Click New Project.

The Welcome dialog box closes, and the new project appears with a blank Process Flow pane.

3. Choose File --> Open --> Data.

The Open Data From dialog box appears. Your choices are

• Local Computer: Clicking this icon allows you to browse your local computer resources, such as Windows Explorer, to select a data source.

The file types that SAS Enterprise Guide can open appear in a standard Windows Open dialog box. If you want to examine only SAS data files, click the Files of Type drop-down list, and choose SAS Files.

5. Click the Open button.

The data set opens in your project and appears in the data grid. You can easily browse the data by using the vertical and horizontal scroll bars.